RENAISSANCE AND EARLY MODERN MEDICINE
1. What does ‘Renaissance’ mean?
2. How did this apply to medicine?
3. Who was Andreas Vesalius?
4. What was the name of his book?
5. Give an approx. date when this book was published.
6. Why is Vesalius important to medicine?
7. Give 2 examples of mistakes Vesalius said that Galen had made.
2 marks
8. Why was Realdo Columbo important to medicine?
9. Why was Hieronymous Fabricius important to medicine?
10. Who was William Harvey?
11. What was the name of his book?
12. Give an approx. date when this book was published.
13. What did Harvey discover?
2 marks
14. Give 2 examples of experiments Harvey did to prove his discoveries.
2 marks
15. Why was his discovery important a) in the short–term b) in the long-term?
2 marks
16. Give 2 examples of factors affecting the discoveries in the Renaissance period.
2 marks
17. Give 2 examples of technology used during the Renaissance period.
2 marks
18. Who was Edward Jenner?
19. What did he discover?
20. When did he make his discoveries?
21. How did Jenner make his discovery?
2 marks
22. Why is Jenner important to medicine?
23. Give 2 reasons why there was opposition to Jenner and his discovery.
2 marks
ANSWERS
1. ‘Rebirth’ of ideas from classical times eg Greek and Roman.
2. To use and re-look at the works of Hippocrates and Galen. To explain that science is
more important than superstition and a questioning of these old ideas.
3. A Professor of Surgery and Anatomy at Padua University in Italy.
4. “The Fabric of the Human Body”.
5. 1543
6. Proved Galen was wrong on some of his work on the human body.
Produced accurate anatomical drawings of the human body, with accurate notes.
Set down procedures for anatomy and used human bodies.
7. Galen had said that there were holes in the septum of the heart to allow blood to pass
through, but Vesalius proved that there weren’t any holes.
Galen had said the human jawbone is made up of 2 bones, but Vesalius proved it is
only 1 continuous bone.
8. Columbo discovered the blood left 1 side of the heart, went up to the lungs and then reentered the heart on the other side. Therefore, blood did no pass through any nonexistent holes in the septum.
9. Fabricius proved that blood travelled through veins and arteries using a series of
valves, which closed shut to only allow blood to travel in one direction. He proved that
blood did not flow, but moved in ‘jerky’ movements.
10. Harvey was a British doctor and anatomist.
11. An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Living Beings/Animals
12. 1628
13. Harvey proved the heart works like a water pump to move blood around the body.
Using the work of Columbo and Fabricius, Harvey said that blood moved only in one
direction through valves with the heart pumping the blood around. Blood moved
through the heart, to the lungs and back to the heart. He called this the Circulation of
blood. He discovered that animals have the same volume of blood all the time, which
isn’t consumed by the body (Galen’s theory) and nor is there too much of it (the 4
humours theory). Harvey also observed that blood changed colour as it travelled
around the body.
14. Harvey did experiments with water pumps to prove the motion of the heart.
Harvey did experiments where he poured liquids down veins and arteries to show how
the blood travelled through the valves.
15. a) In short-term he proved that the theory of the 4 humours didn’t work as you don’t
have an excess of blood, so ‘bleeding’ didn’t work.
b) In the long-term his discovery helped in surgery as people realised blood
transfusions were necessary, though not successful until Landsteiner discovered
different blood groups.
16. Work of individuals, Religion (relaxation of controls), Communications (printing),
Science and Technology.
17. Water pumps, printing presses, improved lenses on microscopes.
18. Jenner was a country doctor from Gloucestershire.
19. He discovered a vaccination against smallpox.
20. He made his discovery in 1796 and published his work in 1798.
21. Jenner observed that milkmaids, who had caught cowpox, didn’t suffer from smallpox.
Jenner used a dose of cowpox from a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes, to infect a small boy,
James Phipps. The boy was ill, but then he was given a dose of smallpox, from which
he recovered. Jenner had used cowpox to immunise James against smallpox.
22. Opposition included:a) Jenner was ridiculed as he couldn’t explain how it worked
b) Jenner was ridiculed as he was a country doctor and not highly thought of
c) Other doctors lost money as they had previously done inoculations, now the
smallpox vaccine was free from the government.
d) Other doctors not as careful as Jenner, made mistakes with the vaccine and this
led to some people dying.
23. Jenner proved that by using scientific methods that a disease could be eliminated. His
idea and procedures were to be important later when Pasteur began to use these to
create other vaccines.